Missing person search ends well
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By BETH ZUMWALT
A search for a missing 49-year-old female ended well Sunday night when the missing person was found on Gilbert Island in the Mississippi River.
The Pike County Volunteer Emergency Corps said they received notification about the incident at 7:47 p.m.
A group of sportsmen, that included the female, had been on Gilbert Island early in the day for the purpose of seasonal mushroom hunting.
Upon arrival back at their camp, realized she was not with them. They could not find her on a return trip to the island.
Boats and personnel were deployed to search the shoreline of Gilbert Island and the surface water around and down stream.
Both a commercial fixed wing airplane and a commercial quad-rotor drone were deployed to scathe island from overhead with night vision and thermal equipment.
“They were able to detect a heat source,” David Greenwood, Pike County Sheriff, said. “It turns out, she had a lighter with her and started a fire, both for warmth and to attract our attention.”
Greenwood said the victim had gotten lost in the dark and was unable to find a point of direction to indicate which way she was going.
According to the PCEC, Gilbert Island has very thick underbrush, downed trees and vines making the area difficult to penetrate.
To further complicate the search, the low river stage made accessing the island difficult.
Responders were forced to travel though the thick vegetation on foot for approximately 1.25 miles to reach the victim. She was uninjured and able to walk out, but the return trip was nearly a mile in the same conditions.
All parties were able to return to the shoreline and the incident resolved by 3:35 a.m.
The search operation included many circumstances that increased it’s complexity, according to rescuers on the scene, according to Doug Orr, a member of the Pike County Emergency Corps.
The island is reported to be 200 acres and is a mile and on-half long.
Those helping with the rescue were: Hull-Kinderhook Fire Department, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois State Police, New Canton Fire Department, Pike County Ambulance, Pike County 9-1-1, Pike County Sheriff’s Department, Pike County Emergency Corps, Tri Township Fire Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.